Reel Cleveland: Scene's Film Blog

Audience of One has its local premiere tonight at CMA

A documentary about a minister who sets out to make a movie and start his own film production company, Audience of One has its local premiere tonight at 7 at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Here's our review of the film.

Audience of One (U.S., 2007) God spoke to pentecostal minister Richard Gazowsky and told him to make a movie. That’s the subject matter of this fascinating documentary that follows the San Francisco-based Gazowsky as he convinces his parish (and a German investment group) to cough up the cash to produce Gravity: The Shadow of Joseph, a film he describes as “Star Wars meets The Ten Commandments.” Gazowsky works with a team of artistic directors to create things like a “smoking floor” and even goes to Italy with his motley crew of amateur actors and actresses. Once they start filming, however, things start to go badly. One actor twists his ankle, and another argues incessantly with Gazowsky. Cranes malfunction, cameras break and the investment money dries up. Gazowsky says his prayers, but they don’t seem to help. You quickly realize Gazowsky isn’t a visionary but a delusional crackpot unwilling to take no for an answer, especially when — just as he’s faced with bankruptcy — he begins talking about making 47 films a year and building a resort. Cleveland Museum of Art Lecture Hall. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23. *** (Jeff Niesel)